Eng will do better than most predict here as long as your seamers bowl well, spinners wise Ali might be decent not sure about others.

Big challenge for Eng batsmen would be Ashwin but I think as long as they play sensibly it should be ok . NZ could have given Indian bowlers trouble had Williamson been in better form and they had someone to replace Guptill & Taylor.

I can't see Ali getting the bounce he did in that series, from memory a lot of his wickets were caught in the deep. India will play him much better on their pitches. Play 4 quicks (Broad, stokes, woakes,ball ) and one spinner (Ali or Batty) and try to stay in the game.

I think spirit of the team and motivation will be a big factor. Of course the skills are important but having lost the last test and mediocre performance by the inexperienced players against an ordinary test team can have a huge effect on confidence and ultimately the outcome of the game. How quickly the first time travelers come out of it and play confidently will be crucial. Its a long 5 test series, if England gets crushed in the beginning, then i dont see any favorable results for England, not even a draw....

Eng will do better than most predict here as long as your seamers bowl well, spinners wise Ali might be decent not sure about others.

Big challenge for Eng batsmen would be Ashwin but I think as long as they play sensibly it should be ok . NZ could have given Indian bowlers trouble had Williamson been in better form and they had someone to replace Guptill & Taylor.

Ashwin seems a totally different bowler from the one who went missing against us back in 2012. In 2012 Ashwin bowled too many variations and Dhoni's negative captaincy nullified Ashwin.

Kohli's aggressive in everything he does and that's rubbed off on Ashwin.

I can't see Ali getting the bounce he did in that series, from memory a lot of his wickets were caught in the deep. India will play him much better on their pitches. Play 4 quicks (Broad, stokes, woakes,ball ) and one spinner (Ali or Batty) and try to stay in the game.

With Ali now batting at no.5 you could have him in as a batsman who bowls! With Stokes being a genuine all rounder who bats at 6, the side is much easier to balance. We can have plenty of bowling options, without having to weaken the batting.